Early bird gets the worm....

So you can probably tell from our previous blogs that we have really crammed in some of the best bits of China and having finished on a high at the restaurant we knew we would have two more days of free time to kill. It was agreed we should all make the effort to get up much earlier to make our way to Jingshan Park. Not only would it offer great birds eye view of the city but also we would get a chance to see the older generation practicing Tai Che.

With much struggle (and grimace from Sarah who was not pleased to be woken) we got up at 6am and made our own way there conquering calling 3 taxi's and translating our destination.

Uponing entering the park it was immediately apparent that this was going to be a good experience. There were only a few people around but already some were practicing Tai Che with swords!!

We started our ascent of the temple that sits central to the park and would offer the priceless views. The hill supposedly protects the Forbidden City from evil Spirits and dust storms. Hopefully the pictures below give a good impression of the sheer size of Beijing and the also the wow factor that we all got when reaching the summit.

As i mentioned before we were told that it was a good place to see the older generation practicing tai Che but we were surprised to see one old dude who was a supple as a 15 year old Olympic gymnast and the yoga skills to boot.

Upon making our descent we managed to spot more older people exercising as the park became busy and we all thought that taking a page out of their books would be good practice for a better and longer life. We also managed to spot a larger group performing tai Che.

We left the park for the hostel as our stomachs began to growl for breakfast not before I stopped to do my customary mimicking pose with animal statues . (Not my best picture, haha)

To make our way back we took the subway which was relatively easy but no different to London's rammed carriages! Sarah was happy though, she finally was able to reach the hand grips. (The average height of a Chinese person helped make it possible)

Stay tuned for more tales....

Dan